In politics, what begins in fear usually ends in folly.

The first requirement of a statesman is that he be dull.

The vice presidency isn’t worth a pitcher of warm piss.

The best of all rulers is but a shadowy presence to his subjects.

O citizens, first acquire wealth; you can practice virtue afterward.

I am invariably of the politics of the people at whose table I sit, or beneath whose roof I sleep.

The U.S. presidency is a Tudor monarchy plus telephones.

Whether for good or evil, it is sadly inevitable that all political leadership requires the artifices of theatrical illusion. In the politics of a democracy, the shortest distance between two points is often a crooked line.

I say violence is necessary. It is as American as cherry pie.

Written laws are like spiderwebs: they will catch, it is true, the weak and poor but would be torn in pieces by the rich and powerful.

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

The Revolution is made by man, but man must forge his revolutionary spirit from day to day.

Do that which consists in taking no action, and order will prevail.